Other Words from plead

Synonyms for plead

Pleaded vs. Pled

Plead belongs to the same class of verbs as bleed, lead, and feed, and like them it has a past and past participle with a short vowel spelled pled (or sometimes plead, which is pronounced alike). From the beginning, pled has faced competition from the regular form pleaded, which eventually came to predominate in mainstream British English. Pled was and is used in Scottish English, which is likely how it came to American English. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pled was attacked by many American usage commentators (perhaps because it was not in good British use). Though still sometimes criticized, it is fully respectable today and both pled (or plead) and pleaded are in good use in the U.S. In legal use (such as “pleaded guilty,” “pled guilty”), both forms are standard, though pleaded is used with greater frequency. In nonlegal use (such as “pleaded for help”), pleaded appears more commonly, though pled is also considered standard.

Examples of plead in a Sentence

He begged and pleaded, but she would not change her mind.
She couldn't afford a lawyer to plead her case.
“How do you plead?” asked the judge.
“We plead guilty, Your Honor.”
He agreed to plead to a lesser charge of manslaughter.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'plead.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Legal Definition of plead

1: to make an allegation in an action or other legal proceedingespecially: to answer the pleading or charge of the other party by denying facts therein stated or by alleging new facts the defendant shall be given a copy of the indictment or information before the defendant is called upon to plead — Kansas Statutes Annotated — see also alternative

2: to make a specific plea
plead not guiltyalso: to make a plea of guilty agreed to plead to the lesser charge

1: to allege in or by way of a pleading : state in a pleading
unless plaintiff pleads and proves facts showing actual malice, he cannot recover punitive damages — Kumaran v. Brotman, 617 N.E.2d 191 (1993)plead a case of fraudulent conveyance

2: to offer as an excuse
cannot plead ignorance of the law

Other Words from plead

pleadableadjective

pleadernoun

History and Etymology for plead

Anglo-French plaider to argue in a court of law, from Old French plaid legal action, trial — more at plea